Lay My Hat

I work for autism together .i will be coming with my collegue and 2 of our service users . the house looks beautiful and our services users will love it .

Booking request. Should I be concerned? Discrimination if not taken?

Servicers users??? Is the rest of the grammar also as you have stated?

The term is “service users”. Is it a scam?
I would want to speak to the enquirers to ascertain if your property is suitable for them. Nothing wrong with that.

Looking at their website I am rather surprised that they would book somewhere online without checking it out first, (by visiting) but maybe that’s just me.
I would make contact with the office and ask some considered questions as a thoughtful and caring owner who is acting responsibly.

My immediate thought was - you can’t discriminate on grounds of disability.
My second thought, having read it again, is that the wording is very scammy. Drop out the autism references and see how it reads:

I am a doctor .i will be coming with my wife and 2 of our children . the house looks beautiful and our children will love it .

I hear an alarm bell tinkling in the distance; I’d be having a very close look at the from and reply to email addresses and IP address, and wanting to check with the organisation - would the individuals book for themselves, or would there be somebody at the organisation that handled all that?
It’s sad to be so cynical, but it smells a wee bit fishy, so lots of caution if you proceed.

PS - I also agree with zebedee that it’s surprising that they wouldn’t make some pretty detailed enquiries - depending on the degree of autism perhaps.

I too would be very suspicious of this. Poor spelling and grammar. What or who are 'service users'? Someone in the care industry dealing with autism, disability etc. would, surely, refer to people, patients - not 'service users'.

I also agree that they would check out the property very carefully and, if genuine, would have no objection to you asking a few questions as to whether your property is suitable for them.

Actually it sounds like it could be genuine.

Current NHS speak (at least in the Trust my husband works for) is indeed to use "service users" as the term for the people who they are treating. Patients is no longer PC it seems.

Google "Autism Together" and ring them direct if you want to check.

I'm with Cymraes, I think it sounds genuine too but it would definitely be worth calling them to check it's a good fit for them.

"Service Users" rather than "people" or "patients"? Good grief!!!

It depends on the circumstances. People with a disability are not referred to as patients as they are not sick. They may need support and in those circumstances may be referred to as service users. if they do become ill they will be called a patient.

My original point was that a member of staff would not make such a grammatical error as to write “services users”, nor should the other grammatical errors occur, although these days with text speak .......

The website for the organisation is easily found and therefore a phone call to clarify the situation is an easy remedy.

I once worked at a facility that provided classes and activities to developmentally challenged adults, who were referred to as "consumers."

I once worked at a facility that provided classes and activities to developmentally challenged adults, who were referred to as "consumers."

So what is the outcome Apexblue? How did things progress?

We took the booking. Let's hope it turns out better than our last guest with autism who escaped during the night and police called out.

Thanks for responses.

GillianF wrote:I too would be very suspicious of this. Poor spelling and grammar. What or who are 'service users'? Someone in the care industry dealing with autism, disability etc. would, surely, refer to people, patients - not 'service users'.

I also agree that they would check out the property very carefully and, if genuine, would have no objection to you asking a few questions as to whether your property is suitable for them.

We are not allowed to call people patients in the Uk now, it’s either service users or clients.
If you are suspicious about the email or have misgivings, you should just ignore it and not engage with them at all. You then do not have to give any explanation.

Jemima Copping wrote:

GillianF wrote:I too would be very suspicious of this. Poor spelling and grammar. What or who are 'service users'? Someone in the care industry dealing with autism, disability etc. would, surely, refer to people, patients - not 'service users'.

I also agree that they would check out the property very carefully and, if genuine, would have no objection to you asking a few questions as to whether your property is suitable for them.

We are not allowed to call people patients in the Uk now, it’s either service users or clients.
If you are suspicious about the email or have misgivings, you should just ignore it and not engage with them at all. You then do not have to give any explanation.

As above, my sister is deaf and mentally handicapped. She lives in a flat with carers on site all of the time.
As a collective, the residents are referred to as service users. On occasions the staff arrange things and then I have to pay which can be very complicated and from outside would seem odd.
Everyone needs to do some standard checks if concerned.
But, obviously there are exceptions to every rule!